What Is Website Traffic? And a Quick Guide on Tracking It

What Is Website Traffic?

Website postulation refers to the number of users who sojourn your tract complete a specified play of time, which tin thief you understand really galore imaginable customers you have. 

Website platforms (like Shopify) often person built-in devices that fto you position accusation astir your site, specified arsenic website traffic. These devices are convenient and easy to use.

But built-in devices tin deficiency elaborate aliases civilization reporting. Which is why business owners and professionals typically usage third-party analytic devices for illustration Google Analytics to way their site’s traffic.

You tin besides effort Semrush’s Free Website Tracker instrumentality to spot web postulation for immoderate site—not conscionable your own.

Why Is Tracking Site Traffic Important?

Tracking tract postulation lets you amended understand your site’s capacity and find areas of improvement—like low-performing pages.

Here are immoderate circumstantial benefits of search and analyzing tract traffic:

• Learn astir your visitors: See which pages are astir celebrated pinch your visitors, truthful you tin create akin contented they’ll apt enjoy
• Review your search motor optimization (SEO) efforts: Review unpaid (organic) tract traffic to find your SEO’s effectiveness 
• Spot areas for improvement: Analyze and reappraisal low-traffic pages to understand why they’re not performing. Make updates to amended those pages.
• Perform competitor analyses: See really overmuch postulation rival sites get and usage their postulation arsenic a reference constituent to gauge really good your tract is doing wrong your industry
• Measure run performance: Review applicable metrics for traffic-boosting campaigns (like paid ads intended to make awareness) to spot really galore group sojourn your tract arsenic a consequence of the campaign 

How Is Web Traffic Measured?

Overall web postulation is measured by adding each the visits to your site.

But the meaning of a sojourn tin vary, depending connected what it is you want to track. And you tin further measure postulation by source—meaning wherever the visits came from.

Let’s research both:

Visit Metrics

Website postulation metrics that specify a type of sojourn tin thief you broadly understand who's coming to your tract and what they're doing erstwhile there.

Metrics whitethorn include:

• Users: The number of unsocial visitors to your tract during a circumstantial period—meaning it’s still 1 personification moreover if they time off and travel backmost later. This metric is called “Active users” successful GA4 and tin show you the wide size of your site’s audience.
• New users: The group visiting your tract for the first clip during a circumstantial period. The number of caller group tin thief you understand if your efforts to pull caller visitors are successful.
• Returning users: The number of group who’ve visited your tract astatine slightest erstwhile earlier during the specified period. Comparing caller users to returning users helps you understand really good you clasp tract traffic. 
• Views (sometimes called pageviews): The number of times a page has been viewed during a specified period. Views tin uncover your site’s astir celebrated pages.
• Sessions: The number of browsing periods connected your tract during a definite clip range. Comparing sessions to different metrics (like views) gives you deeper penetration into what group do connected your site. 

Here’s really reviewing different personification postulation metrics tin beryllium useful: 

Let’s opportunity you reappraisal your tract postulation and spot you person 100 users and 500 views. 

The higher number of views suggests that visitors are exploring aggregate pages—which mightiness bespeak bully tract navigation aliases engaging content.

Website Traffic Sources

Web postulation sources show you wherever your postulation comes from, truthful you cognize which channels to attraction connected and improve.

Here are immoderate communal postulation root types and what they mean:

• Organic search: Unpaid postulation from hunt engines
• Paid search: Traffic from hunt ads for illustration those launched via Google Ads 
• Direct: Traffic from visitors who participate your URL successful the reside barroom aliases sojourn your tract done a saved link
• Referral: Traffic from different websites for illustration blogs aliases news sites that wasn’t from ads hosted connected those sites
• Organic social: Traffic from organically placed links connected societal sites for illustration Facebook aliases Instagram
• Paid social: Paid postulation from societal media ads
• Display: Traffic from display ads (online ocular ads for illustration banner ads) 
• Email: Traffic from emails for illustration your newsletter 

Let’s opportunity your squad has dedicated a ample information of your trading fund to email marketing.

That intends reviewing web postulation from email—and comparing it to different sources meant to thrust traffic—can show you if your fund is well-spent. 

If postulation from email is low, you mightiness see revising your email campaigns. Or moving the fund to better-performing channels.

How to Track Your Site’s Traffic

Use Google Analytics

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is simply a communal website postulation instrumentality that gives you a broad look astatine your site’s postulation and really users behave connected your site.

One measurement to set up GA4 connected your tract is done a codification snippet that looks for illustration this:

This codification lets Google Analytics cod data. 

And you tin position the information GA4 collects done various reports successful your analytics dashboard. Like the homepage study that displays metrics specified arsenic progressive and caller users for your site.

Clicking a metric’s drop-down lets you alteration to a different metric you want to evaluate.

You tin besides position page-level postulation accusation by clicking “Engagement” followed by “Pages and screens.”

GA4 is simply a robust instrumentality that’s particularly bully for much knowledgeable trading professionals.

Use Organic Traffic Insights

Semrush’s Organic Traffic Insights instrumentality is simply a website postulation instrumentality that combines information from GA4, Google Search Console, and Semrush to show your site’s integrated postulation metrics successful 1 place.

After configuring Organic Traffic Insights, you tin entree your postulation analytics. 

The “Organic Search Traffic” conception shows an aggregate position of your integrated postulation data. While the “Landing Pages” conception breaks down your information for each page displayed. 

And you tin alteration the location, device, and clip play to reappraisal much circumstantial data.

Organic Traffic Insights is useful for teams focusing connected SEO efforts. As the instrumentality highlights integrated hunt data. 

How to Check Your Competitors’ Website Traffic

You tin cheque your competitors’ tract postulation pinch the Traffic Analytics tool.

Open the tool, participate up to 5 competitors’ domains, and click “Analyze.”

A study will load pinch accusation connected your competitors’ unsocial visitors, pages per visit, mean sojourn duration, and more.

Scroll down to the “Traffic Journey” study and click “View each sources” to spot wherever your competitors’ postulation comes from.

Click into the tabs on the apical of the “Traffic Journey Details” conception (“Referral,” “Organic Search,” etc.) to get much specifications connected circumstantial root types.

Reviewing competitor tract postulation on pinch postulation information from your ain tract helps you gauge your competitors' performance. And place whether there’s room for you to improve. 

For instance, you whitethorn want to attraction connected SEO if competitors thrust much postulation from integrated hunt compared to your site.

Start Increasing Your Site’s Traffic 

Increasing your site’s postulation tin thief you get much leads (people who are willing successful your company) and customers.

Grow your website and its postulation pinch these tips: 

1. Find low-competition keywords that are applicable to your niche utilizing devices for illustration the Keyword Magic Tool. Then, create pages and blog posts pinch your chosen keywords to effort to rank successful the hunt results and summation integrated postulation to your website.
2. Promote contented connected societal media to summation postulation from societal media to your site
3. Invest successful paid ads on hunt engines, societal media platforms, etc., to beforehand your site’s content
4. Collaborate pinch influencers who tin stock your site’s contented pinch their audiences
5. Write guest blog posts (posts you constitute for personification other that database you arsenic the author) connected different applicable websites. You tin sometimes see a nexus backmost to your site, which helps you summation referral postulation and build backlinks (links from outer sites that constituent to your site) that mightiness construe to much integrated postulation later on. 

Semrush offers a assortment of devices to thief you amended your site’s postulation utilizing the supra tactics. And makes it easy to way the postulation you get. 

Try Semrush for free to spot what it tin do.